Tuesday, August 23, 2011

My Thoughts On Food

Over the past couple of years I've been steering away from over processed, prepackaged "food". I realized that grocery store offerings had changed drastically over the years. I can remember, as a child, things were very different. Beef pot pies had actual chunks of beef in them, instead of bits of beef flavored sponge. Texturized vegetable protien has replaced meat in many food items. There is also an overuse of high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oil and various fillers of all sorts. Why? The bottom line. Companies put most of their effort into selling us something that has minimal value for the most profit. The result is that many grocery store offerings can barely qualify as food. But we keep buying. And our society has suffered. Obesity is now becoming the rule instead of the exception. Diabetes is commonplace. As is cancer. And yet we keep buying for the sake of convenience. We care more about fancy packages with name brands than we do about what is inside that package. This was a scary realization. I resolved to simplify my life. I began cooking from scratch in order to know what was in the food I was ingesting. I looked for simpler, less expensive ways to clean my home and do my laundry. Did you ever notice how the first ingredient on so many products is WATER. Do you really want to pay that much for water? I don't. Those were my reasons for turning my back on most corporations and the local grocery stores. Then a friend posted this to her blog. And it has given me even more incentive to continue on this path.

This lady lays it right out there, in terms anyone can understand. And it's some frightening information. What can we do? Since corporations care more about money than they do about us, I will give them very little of mine. Yes, organic foods cost more. But can you put a price on your health? Being "natural" and "organic" isn't just for hippies, anymore.